Internal-combustion engine



Feb. 25, 'l9 30 E. A. PU TNAM INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed May 2,1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 I I\ IIIIII IIIIIIIl Trill/III 1 1 K [nwntarE.A.Pu,tn am l g mwowdlac.

Feb. 25, 1930. 4 PUTNAM 1,748,728

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed May '2. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gWZMUOXQZM.

- Attorney Patented Feb. 25, 1930 PATENT O FFICE ERNEST A. rurumfor IOWAoI'rY, IOWA INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Application med May 2, 1927.Serial No. 188,300.

The present invention relates to an internal combustion engine of thesleeve valve type and has for its principal object to provide improvedmeans for actuating the sleeve.

valve so that during their cycles of rotation the speed thereof will beintermittently advanced; and retarded to insure the properopening andclosing of the valve in an efficient and reliable manner.

Another very important object of the invention resides in the provisionof a rotary valve gas engine of the four cycle type wherein the valve isin the form of a rotating sleeve and has a spiral gear formed thereonmeshing with another spiral gear mounted on a shaft and means forimparting continuous uniform rotary motion to the shaft and means forreciprocating the shaft back and forth so as to impart an irregularrotary motion 9 to' the valve in a predetermined manner so that thevalve will open and close quickly and will remain open a proper lengthof time to insure proper intake and proper exhaust.

A still further veryimportant object'of 3 the invention lies in theprovision of an im-' proved structure of this nature which is simple,compact, convenient, thoroughly" eff cient and reliable in itsoperation, inexpensive to construct, and otherwise well adapted to thepurpose foif'which it "i'sdesigned. 1

With the above and numerous other objects in view as will appear as thedescrip-' tion proceeds, the invention resides" in'certhe combinationand arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described andclaimed. j

In 'the drawing:

Figure 1*is a vertical transverse section through the engine embodyingthefeatures of my invention,

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken 'sub substantially "on the line AA of Figure '1 showing the valve in different positions.

Referring to the drawing in detail it will beseenthat'the numeral'odenotes the tain novel features of construction, and in case having a,crankshaft 6 rotatably mounted therein and formed at one end with aspiral gear 7. Anti-friction bearing members 8 are mounted in the crankcase and slidably and rotatably support a shaft 9 having spiral gears 10formed thereon one for each cylinder 11 of the engine. A chain andsprocket mechanism 13 operatively connects the shaft 6 with the shaft 9for rotating the shaft 9 at one fourth crank shaft speed. The sprocket14: of the chain and sprocket mechanism 13 is splined on the shaft 9 andis rotatably mounted in a bearing 15. A bracket 16 in one end of thecrank case rockably supports a rocker arm 17 which has a link connection18 with one end of the shaft 9. A spiral gear 19 is rotatably mounted inthe crank case having a shaft 20 with a crank 21 thereon with which oneend of the rocker arm 17 is pivotally engaged. It will be seen from theabove description that as the crank shaft rotates continuous uniformrotary motion is imparted to the shaft 9, and simultaneously said shaft9 is reciprocated back and forth through the gears 7 and 19 and crank21,, the rocker arm 17, and the link 18. Connecting rods 23 are mountedin the usualwell known manner between the cranks in the crank shaft 6and pistons 24 which: are mounted for rectilinear movement in sleeve 25rotatable in the cylinders 11. The lower ends of the sleeve 25 areprovided with worm gears 26 meshing with worm gears 10. Anti-frictionbearing members 27 are mounted in the crank case to engage the undersurface of the worm gears26 to support the sleeve 25 in the cylinders.The cylinders are provided with intake openings 28 and. exhaust openings29 while the sleeve valves are provided with openings 30 registerablewith openings 28 and 29.

The valve when disposed in the figure shown in Figure 3 is closed andthe piston is in the top of the cylinder ready to begin the firingstroke. In Figure 4, the valve is shown ready to open for the exhaust asthe piston reaches'the bottom of the cylinder.

InFigi'ire 5, the valve is shown when the pistonhas again reached'thetop and is about to move downwardly on its intake stroke.

stroke and in Figure 6 the valve is shown after the intake stroke.

From the above detailed description it will be seen that the rotor orsleeve rotates the entire 360 degrees during a four stroke cycle moement of the piston. This makes it possible for a single port opening toopen and close the exhaust port, also the intake port during thisperiod. This has an advantage of placing the port openings on the outercylinder wall for the advancement or retarding a degree for properworking conditions. In the drawings the parts are pro portioned andoperatively connected together so that the gear 19 makes four completerevolutions for a four stroke cycle or for two complete revolutions ofthe crank shaft 6. By this method the valve openings is advanced thedistance desired to insure quick opening and also the Valve is returnedto its proper position for the next valve opening. Two revolutions ofthe gear 19 occur during the period of compression and firing It ispossible by this method to give the valve a quick opening, also a longerperiod of opening, completely scavenging the cylinder of burnt gases.From theabove it will be seen that each sleeve valve makes one completerevolution for each four strokes of the engine and during suchrevolution causes an acceleration in three phases, namely; pausing oncein front of the exhaust port, once in front of the inlet port and athird time at about the beginning of the downward explosion stroke.

It is thought that the construction, oper-- ation, and advantages ofthis invention will now be quite apparent to those skilled in this artwithout a more detailed description thereof. The present embodiment ofthe invention has been disclosed in detail merely by way of examplesince in actual practice it attains the features of advantage enumeratedas desirable in the statement of the invention and the abovedescription. It will be apparent that changes in the details ofconstruction, and in the combination and arrangementof parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventionas hereinafter claimed or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new is:

1 In an engine of the class described, a cylinder having a pair ofspaced openings one for exhaust and the other for intake. a sleeverotatable in the cylinder and having an opening registerable with thefirst mentioned opening, and means for imparting variable rotarv motionto the sleeve so that the opening of the sleeve will register quicklywith the openings of the cvlinder and will remain in registery therewithfor a predetermined length of time and then move quickly out ofregistery therewith, said means comprising a spiral gear on the sleeve,a shaft, means for slidably and rotatably mounting the shaft, a spiralgear on the shaft meshing with the spiral gear on the sleeve, means forimparting constant rotary motionto the shaft, and means forreciprocating the shaft.

2. In an engine of the class described, a cylinder having a pair ofspaced openings one for exhaust and the other for intake, a sleeverotatable in the cylinder and having an opening registerable with thefirst mentioned opening, and means for imparting variable rotary motionto the sleeve so that the opening of the sleeve will register quicklywith the openings of the cylinder and will remain in registery therewithfor a predetermined length of time and then move quickly out ofregistery therewith, said means comprising a spiral gear on the sleeve,a shaft, means for mounting the shaft so that the same may be rotatedand reciprocated, a spiral gear on the shaft meshing with the firstspiral gear, means for imparting constant rotary motion to the shaft, arocker arm, means for rocking the rocker arm, and means operativelyconnecting the rocker arm with the shaft for reciprocating said shaft.

3. In an engine of the class described, a cylinder, a crank caseconnected to the cylinder, a crank shaft rotatable in the crank case, asleeve rotatable in the cylinder, a piston in the sleeve, a connectingrod between the piston and the crank shaft, said sleeve having a spiralgear mounted thereon, a shaft, means for rotatably and slidably mountingthe last mentioned shaft in the crank case, a spiral gear on the lastmentioned shaft meshing with the first mentioned spiral gear, means forrotating the last mentioned shaft from the crank shaft 105 in apredetermined ratio and means operable from the crank shaft forreciprocating the second mentioned shaft.

4. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a sleeve in saidcylinder, means adapt- 110 ed to impart uniform rotation to said sleeve,and means for increasing and decreasing the rate of said rotation atpredetermined intervals.

5. In an internal combustion engine, a cyl- 115 inder, a sleeve in saidcylinder, means connected to the crank shaft of said engine adapted toimpart uniform rotation to said sleeve, and a second means cooperatingwith said shaft for varying said rate of rotation 120 of said sleeve.

6. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a sleeve rotatable insaid cylinder, means adapted to impart a uniform rotation to saidsleeve, and means for introducing a 125 cyclic change of motion intosaid uniform rotation.

7. In an internal combustion engine, 9. cylinder, a sleeve rotatable insaid cylinder, means adapted to impart a uniform motion to said sleeve,and means for introducing a change of motion into said uniform motion.

8. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a sleeve rotatable insaid cylinder, means for imparting a uniform rotation to said sleeve,said means including a shaft, and means for reciprocating said shaft forvarying the speed of rotation of said sleeve.

9. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a sleeve rotatable insaid cylinder, means for rotating said sleeve, said means includingteeth on said sleeve, a shaft, a gear on said shaft meshing with theteeth on said sleeve for rotating the same, and

means for reciprocating said shaft.

10. In an internal combustion engine, a crank shaft, a cylinder, asleeve rotatable in said cylinder, means for rotating said sleeve, saidmeans including teeth on said sleeve, a shaft, a gear on said shaft,meshing with said teeth on said sleeve, and means operable from thecrank shaft for reciprocating said I second mentioned shaft.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ERNEST A. PUTNAM.

